Volleyball World Grand Prix

The Volleyball World Grand Prix was an international competition for national women's teams. From 2018 the World Grand Prix was replaced by the Volleyball Nations League .

Regulations

The regulations of the Grand Prix had changed over time more frequently than those of the world league. This was intended to increase the attractiveness for the public. However, there were some key provisions.

• The participants had to qualify for the competition. The rules were different depending on the continent. Either a team had to complete a certain tournament or the qualification took place according to the world rankings .
• The competition was divided into at least two phases: a preliminary round with changing hosts and one or more final round (s) at a central venue.
• The preliminary round was divided into weeks. Every week the participants were organized into groups and played everyone against everyone within the group.
• All games in a group took place on a weekend in the same city. The venues were mostly in Asia. The host countries did not necessarily have to be involved in the competition.
• After the preliminary round, the best teams reached the next round. The number depended on the number of participants and the format used, but was usually five or six.
• If the host participated in the competition, he was automatically qualified for the final round.
• The FIVB had tried out several formats for the final round. Originally it was a top four system in which everyone played against everyone and the winner was determined by the number of wins, the set and point quotient and the direct duels. A mixed format has been used since 2006: the quarter-finals were played in groups and the two best teams in each group qualified for the semi-finals.
• In the preliminary round, 18 players could be nominated, of which the coach selected twelve every weekend. Only twelve players were allowed in the final round.

history

The Grand Prix was introduced as a counterpart to the men's world league founded three years earlier and took place annually from 1993 to 2017. With these annual competitions, the world volleyball association FIVB wanted to promote the sport as part of a marketing campaign. Since then, the tournament has enjoyed great popularity , especially in East Asia, and was largely supported by Asian investors. In the rest of the world the popularity was significantly lower. The prize money has increased steadily since 1993, but rather in small steps. In 2004, $ 1.295 million was paid out, a relatively small amount compared to the $ 13 million in the World League. The dominance of the Asian sponsors means that most of the host cities for the preliminary round games are in Asia. The host country could or did not have to be represented by a national team. Qualifiers have been introduced in some continents in recent years.

Tournaments

The Grand Prix winners lists show that women's volleyball has been dominated by Brazil since the early 1990s . Hard-working medal collectors were also Russia , the USA , Cuba , China and Italy . The German team has only won two medals so far (bronze in 2002 and 2009).

In the first edition in 1993, the reigning Olympic champion Cuba won the gold medal. A year later, the women from the Caribbean were stopped in the final by Brazil. The South Americans had never won a medal in an important tournament before. In the following years, however, Brazil dominated more and more often. In 1995 they lost to the USA in the final, but a year later they won their second title with a narrow 3-2 win. In 1997 they decided not to take part and thus enabled the Russians to win. The next two tournaments again went to Brazil and Russia. The Eastern Europeans temporarily moved with the South Americans with their third win in 2002, but the Brazilian women expanded their leading position with three consecutive titles from 2004 to 2006. In between, Cuba (2000), the USA (2001) and China (2003) won the Grand Prix. In 2007 the women from the Netherlands won the World Grand Prix for the first time after a winning streak . In 2008 and 2009, Brazil triumphed for the seventh and eighth time. Between 2010 and 2012, the Americans won three times in a row, followed by two wins in 2013 and 2014 by Brazil. In 2015 and 2016, the same two teams won once each.

	year	host	gold	silver	bronze
1	1993	Hong Kong	Cuba	People's Republic of China	Russia
2	1994	Shanghai	Brazil	Cuba	People's Republic of China
3	1995	Shanghai	United States	Brazil	Cuba
4th	1996	Shanghai	Brazil	Cuba	Russia
5	1997	Kobe	Russia	Cuba	South Korea
6th	1998	Hong Kong	Brazil	Russia	Cuba
7th	1999	Yuxi	Russia	Brazil	People's Republic of China
8th	2000	Manila	Cuba	Russia	Brazil
9	2001	Macau	United States	People's Republic of China	Russia
10	2002	Hong Kong	Russia	People's Republic of China	Germany
11	2003	Andria	People's Republic of China	Russia	United States
12	2004	Reggio Calabria	Brazil	Italy	United States
13	2005	Sendai	Brazil	Italy	People's Republic of China
14th	2006	Reggio Calabria	Brazil	Russia	Italy
15th	2007	Ningbo	Netherlands	People's Republic of China	Italy
16	2008	Yokohama	Brazil	Cuba	Italy
17th	2009	Tokyo	Brazil	Russia	Germany
18th	2010	Ningbo	United States	Brazil	Italy
19th	2011	Macau	United States	Brazil	Serbia
20th	2012	Ningbo	United States	Brazil	Turkey
21st	2013	Sapporo	Brazil	People's Republic of China	Serbia
22nd	2014	Tokyo	Brazil	Japan	Russia
23	2015	Omaha	United States	Russia	Brazil
24	2016	Bangkok	Brazil	United States	Netherlands
25th	2017	Nanjing	Brazil	Italy	Serbia

Medal table

nation	gold	silver	bronze	total
Brazil	12	5	2	19th
United States	6th	1	2	9
Russia	3	6th	4th	13
Cuba	2	4th	2	8th
People's Republic of China	1	5	3	9
Netherlands	1	0	1	2
Italy	0	3	4th	7th
Japan	0	1	0	1
Serbia	0	0	3	3
Germany	0	0	2	2
South Korea	0	0	1	1
Turkey	0	0	1	1

Placements

	TN	19 93	19 94	19 95	19 96	19 97	19 98	19 99	20 00	20 01	20 02	20 03	20 04	20 05	20 06	20 07	20 08	20 09	20 10	20 11	20 12	20 13	20 14	20 15	20 16	20 17
Algeria	5																					20th	28	27	28	32
Argentina	7th																			14th	15th	16	17th	19th	17th	22nd
Azerbaijan	1														10
Australia	4th																						27	24	27	26th
Belgium	4th																						6th	10	11	12
Brazil	24	4th	1	2	1		1	2	3	5	4th	7th	1	1	1	5	1	1	2	2	2	1	1	3	1	1
Bulgaria	5																					9	21st	17th	16	17th
People's Republic of China	25th	2	3	4th	4th	5	4th	3	4th	2	2	1	5	3	5	2	5	5	4th	8th	5	2	5	4th	5	4th
Germany	18th	8th	10	8th						8th	3	7th	6th	10			8th	3	9	13	7th	11	11	7th	12	15th
Dominican R.	14th												12	11	8th	11	9	11	8th	12	12	10	13	12	13	8th
France	1																									27
Italy	19th		8th			7th	5	4th	7th			5	2	2	3	3	3		3	7th	10	5	10	5	8th	2
Japan	25th	6th	4th	7th	8th	4th	7th	7th	8th	6th	5	9	9	5	6th	9	6th	6th	5	5	9	4th	2	6th	9	7th
Cameroon	1																									30th
Canada	5											11											19th	18th	19th	20th
Kazakhstan	8th															10	12			15th		17th	24	26th	22nd	24
Kenya	3																						25th	21st	20th
Colombia	3																							23	24	19th
Croatia	4th																						23	20th	21st	23
Cuba	22nd	1	2	3	2	2	3	5	1	4th	7th	11	4th	4th	4th	7th	2			11	6th	15th	20th	25th	25th
Mexico	4th																						26th	28	26th	29
Netherlands	14th		9		7th	6th		8th				4th		6th		1		4th	7th			12	14th	13	3	5
Peru	6th		11																	16			18th	22nd	23	21st
Poland	14th												8th	7th	12	6th	10	7th	6th	10	8th	15th	16	14th	14th	13
Puerto Rico	8th																	10	11		13	18th	15th	16	15th	18th
Russia	21st	3	7th	6th	3	1	2	1	2	3	1	2	7th		2	4th		2		4th		7th	3	2	4th	9
Serbia	7th																			3	11	3	8th	8th	7th	3
South Korea	18th	5	5	5	6th	3	6th	6th	5	7th		6th	11	9	9			12		9	14th		9			14th
Taiwan	4th		12													12			12		16
Thailand	15th										8th	9	10	12	11		11	8th	10	6th	4th	13	12	9	6th	10
Trinidad u. Tobago	1																									31
Czech Republic	5																					14th	22nd	15th	18th	16
Turkey	7th																7th				3	8th	4th	11	10	11
Hungary	1																									25th
United States	24	7th	6th	1	5	8th	8th		6th	1	6th	3	3	8th	7th	8th	4th	9	1	1	1	6th	7th	1	2	6th
Venezuela	1																									28
TN = number of participations (1993 to 2017)

Web links

Commons : FIVB World Grand Prix  - collection of images, videos and audio files

• Information from the FIVB (English)